Christmas ornament structure

ABSTRACT

A cap for securing the neck of a Christmas ornament is disclosed as including a hollow cylindrical member being enclosed on one end. Gripping means including a plurality of gripping elements extend from the inside of the cylindrical member towards the interior of the cylindrical member to grip the neck of the ornament that may be press fit inside the cylindrical member.

United States Patent 15] 3,635,783 Rimmler [451 Jan. 18 1972 [54] CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT STRUCTURE 2,353,853 7/1944 Sayford ..16l/l6 p 2,742,725 4/1956 Esposito, Jr... ..l6l/l6 X [72] Invent" 3,023,925 3/1962 sh... ..220/60 [73] Assignee: Eckman Corporation, Oak Brook, ii]. 2 1967 C C 22 /60 3,474,928 10/1969 Hurtt ..220/60 [22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1969 [21] APPL 386,055 Primary ExaminerJohn T. Gooikasian Assistant Examiner-Henry F. Epstein Attorney-Kenyon & Kenyon Reilly Carr and Chapin [52] U.S.CI. ..16l/7,i61/l6,2l5/l00R,

- 220/59 [57] ABSTRACT I. 47 3 0 of Search 156/91 2 53 15 A cap for securing the neck of a Christmas ornament is disl61/37 A 41 3 R closed as including a hollow cylindrical member being en- 220/59 6 274 closed on one end. Gripping means including a plurality of gripping elements extend from the inside of the cylindrical member towards the interior of the cylindrical member to grip [56] References cued the neck of the ornament that may be press fit inside the cylin- UNITED STATES PATENTS drical memberl,703,90l 3/1929 Schultz ..24/84 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT STRUCTURE This invention relates in general to Christmas ornaments and in particular to an improved cap structure for a Christmas ornament.

Christmas ornaments such as bulbs, balls, etc. enjoy great popularity throughout the world in decorating Christmas trees and for other decorative purposes during the a Christmas season. Generally, these Christmas ornaments include a decorated body portion with a neck portion'extending from the body portion. Usually, a cap is attached to the neck portion of the Christmas ornament with the Christmas ornament attached to a tree or some other item by fastening the cap, and hence the ornament, to the tree or item. Usually, this is done by looping a portion of the cap and placing a string or some other suitable element through the loop and fastening the string, cap and ornament to the item the ornament is to decorate; a 1

Many prior art Christmas ornaments of the type heretofore described had intricate arrangements for securing the Christ mas ornament to the cap. One such prior art arrangement required forming a joint between the cap and the neck of the Christmas ornament in order to secure the ornament to the cap. Obviously, this was an expensive solution to the problem of securing the cap to a Christmas ornament as it is difficult to mass-produce on an economical scale a cap and ornament having parts which must be dimensionally precise enough to cooperate with each other to form an intricate joint. Another prior art solution to the problem of securing a Christmas ornament to a cap taught utilizing a cardboard cap for the Christmas ornament. Cardboard caps had the drawback of being extremely difficult to mass produce due to the physical characteristics of cardboard which do not lend themselves to being easily formed into the configuration necessary to secure a Christmas ornament. 1

It is apparent that caps for Christmas ornaments must be mass produced in as economical and efficient a manner as possible if they are to enjoy a wide distribution. It is also apparent that by utilizing intricate caps for Christmas ornaments or caps which cannot be mass produced in an economical manner it is not possible to keep the costs of making the caps low. A high cost in making and hence selling the caps and ornaments limits to some extent the distribution of the caps and ornaments.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved Christmas ornament and cap therefore.

' More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved cap for a Christmas ornament.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a cap for a Christmas ornament which can securely hold the ornament and which is simple to manufacture in large quantities at an economical price.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a cap for a Christmas ornament in which the cap can be economically made and can securely support a Christmas ornament for a relatively long period of time.

Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, the foregoing and other objects are accomplished by making a cap for a Christmas ornament out of plastic material and with a generally cylindrical cross-sectional area. One end of the cap is closed and may be looped in order that the cap, and the Christmas ornament which it will secure, may be easily attached to a Christmas tree or otherwise used. The inside walls of the cylindrical portion of the cap include fingers symmetrically positioned thereabout. The fingers are generally rectangular in cross section and include an upper edge portion which is substantially perpendicular to the walls of the cylindrical portion of the cap. The low portion of the fingers taper to the walls of the cylindrical member. Preferably, the cap is made out of a plastic such as styrene and can be mass produced in great numbers at relatively low cost due to the ease with which plastic may be worked.

Normally, the diameter of the cylindrical portion of the cap will be selected in accordance with the size of the neck of the ornament to which it is to be fastened so that the cylindrical portion of the cap may be press fitted over the neck. When this happens the cap fingers will, via frictional contact, securely hold the ornament to the cap.

Other objects, aspects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification and drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing how a cap in accordance with the present invention may be utilized to secure a Christmas ornament to a Christmas tree branch;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a cap in accordance with the present invention and a Christmas ornament which may be secured thereby;

FIG. 3 is a cutaway view showing how a cap according to the present invention may be utilized to securely support a Christmas ornament;

FIG. 4 is a cutaway view of a cap in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the cap of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings and FIGS. 3-5 in particular wherein a cap 10 is seen to include a hollow cylindrical member 13 having one end enclosed by a closure member ll. Formed on closure member 11 is a loop 12 which can merely consist of a portion of closure member ll being cutaway with the loop extending to opposite end portions of the cutaway portion. The bottom portion of cylindrical member 13 includes an outwardly flared portion 14 and located on the inner walls of cylindrical member 13 are a plurality of symmetrically positioned identical gripping fingers 15.

As can be seen in FIG. 4 fingers 15 include a face portion 15a which is substantially parallel to theaxis of cylindrical member 13. The face portion 15a of finger 15 extends to an upper edge portion 15b which extends from the inside walls of cylindrical member 13. Face portion 15a includes a taper so that it extends from upper edge portion 15b to the bottom of flared portion 14 of the cap. Preferably six fingers are located within the walls of cylindrical member 13 as seen in FIG. 5. The diameter of the cylindrical portion of cap 10 is selected to be of a size to allow it to be press fit over the neck of a Christmas ornament.

When it is desired to fasten the cap to an ornament the cap is placed over the neck of the ornament (FIG. 2) and lowered until the cap is over the neck of the ornament (FIG. 3) so the closure portion 11 is in contact with the upper rim portion of the neck. When this occurs, the face portion of the fingers are pressed against the neck of the Christmas ornament as a result of the press fit between the neck of the ornament andthe cylindrical portion of the cap so that the friction between the face portion of the fingers and the neck will secure the ornament to the cap.

After this has occurred the cap may be secured to a decorative item as shown in FIG. 1 by looping a string through the loop portion 12 and fastening the string to the decorative item. By utilizing a Christmas cap made from plastic it is possible to mass produce the cap and by utilizing fingers as hereindescribed the cap will securely hold the ornament and provide a simple solution to fastening the ornament to a Christmas tree or some other suitable item.

What is claimed is: a

l. A decorative combination comprising:

a. an ornament structure having a cylindrical neck portion;

and

b. a cap for securing said ornament structure, said cap including a hollow cylindrical plastic member, an enclosure member at the top portion of said hollow cylindrical plastic member, a downward and outwardly flared annular rim at the bottom portion of said hollow cylindrical member and a plurality of gripping elements spaced apart and annularly positioned around the inner wall of the hollow cylindrical member, each of said gripping elements including a gripping finger having a face portion protruding from said inner wall and tapering downward towards the bottom of said flared annular rim, each of said face portions frictionaliy engaging with said cylindrical neck portion; whereby said cap is press fit around the cylindrical neck portion of said ornament structure. 2. A combination as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said face portions comprises a rectangular shaped surface. 5

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE CERTIFICATE OF QRRECTION 3,635,783 Dated Jan. 18, 1972 Patent No.

Inventor(s) William F. Rimmler, York Pa.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the face page of the patent where the assignee is written, "Eckman" Corporation should read --Eckmar-- Corporation.

Signed and sealed this lst day of August 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GUTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents USCOMM-DC 60376-I v u 5. GOVERNMENT Pnmnuc orncc I969 0-366 FORM PO-IOSO (10-69) 

1. A decorative combination comprising: a. an ornament structure having a cylindrical neck portion; and b. a cap for securing said ornament structure, said cap including a hollow cylindrical plastic member, an enclosure member at the top portion of said hollow cylindrical plastic member, a downward and outwardly flared annular rim at the bottom portion of said hollow cylindrical member and a plurality of gripping elements spaced apart and annularly positioned around the inner wall of the hollow cylindrical member, each of said gripping elements including a gripping finger having a face portion protruding from said inner wall and tapering downward towards the bottom of said flared annular rim, each of said face portions frictionally engaging with said cylindrical neck portion; whereby said cap is press fit around the cylindrical neck portion of said ornament structure.
 2. A combination as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said face portions comprises a rectangular shaped surface. 